Belmont chronicle. [volume] (St. Clairsville, Ohio) 1855-1973, 1887-06-30
EASILY INTERVIEWED.
STRATEGY USED BY A REPORTER
TO APPROACH cONKLING.

Ben Butler Said to Be the Most Satis-
factory Interyiewee in the Country.
Henry Ward Beecher's Kindness to the
Reporter.
There are some men in public life who
have the reputation Of being non-interview-
able. Roscoe Conkling used to be so CLASH
fed when he was in the senate. Knowing
that to be the case, I thought l would try my
luck with him. 1t was on a train going west
from Harrisburg, Pa, to the great Chicago
convention of 80, which was to- but did not,
nominate Grant for third term Conkling
had a special car all to himself. 1t was
guarded at each end by stout colored porters,
with orders to let no one in. Mr.. Arthur
afterward PRESIDENT and Mr.. James (after-
ward postmaster generaD were the only men
in the car with the great man. To one of the
colOred Sentinels on the car platform went
and said: Can 1 see Mr.. Conklingw ANo,
sah." said the porter, @he gave petickler or
ders to let nobody in" "Ah," said 1, ''but he
didn't know L was on the train-just give him
this card, please" This and quarter-no
colored car porter can resist quarter-car-
ried my card to the great man.
On the card l had written: ''Grant dele
gate to Chicago"-which was bit of strate-
gic fiction.
1t did the business. l was called in, shaken
by the hand, and invited to eat fruit, while
the imperial senator from the imperial state
posted me all up on the prospects of Grant, as
he viewed them. When he got through I
said: "Our friends in Boston would be de-
lighted 10 know how confident you feel Mr..
Senator-have you any objection TO be
quoted in a newspaper dispatch" 'Not the
least" he replied, for by this time he was off
his dignity and almost as hunIn as Mr..
Cleveland. And so ! succeeded IN standing
up the naughty man for an interview, which
was sent on to Boston as fast as badly jolt
ing train would permit me to scratch it off.
In this case it is certain that the sight of a
note book at the outset, or even an admission
that desired an interview for a paper, would
have prevented my talking with him at all
GEN. BENJAMIN F. BUTLER
Gen. Benjamin F. Butler 1 regard as, on
the whole, the most satisfactory interviewee
in the country. He, too, has the reputation
of being difficult of access. 1t is not true in
the sense of his being lofty or imperious, a la
Conkling Uncle Ben is one of the most
genial gentlemen in the United States-to
newspaper men who "use him square, and
don't abuse his confidence But woe betide
the interviewer who undertakes to publish a
confidential talk, which he has agreed not to
use, and then go near Uncle Ben for another
favor He will not get it, but he may get a
large piece of Uncle Ben's mind First and
last the general has given me probably a
dozen or more interviews, and they were very
easily taken. Tie general does all the work
for you himself. He frames the questions
and answers both, does it at an easy pace, so
that it can be taken down without straining
your stenographic powers, and never fails to
give you a readable, entertaining column or
two columns, or whatever length he may talk
to.
have heard it said that Uncle Ben draws
the line at interviewers connected with
papers opposed to him, but don't believe it
In my own case began reporting on DEM
ocratic paper when he was Republican and
passed to the staff of Republican paper
when he became a Democrat but always
found warm welcome at his house or his
office, and an interview if he felt like giving
one.
HENRY WARD BEECHER.
The only other man who ever conducted an
interview after Buffers method, in my ex-
perience, was the late Henry Ward Beecher
At the time of his controversy over tbs doc
trine of everlasting punishment, somewhere
about the fall of 1877, my friend Maj. Pond
gave me an introduction to Mr.. Beecher for
the purpose of trying to get an interview out
of him in answer to the attacks of DR.. Storrs
and others. 1t was at Music hall, one even
ing after a lecture. "Come round to the
Evans house in the morning and go with me
toward Dover, N H, where lecture to-mor-
row night, and I'll talk for you,p said the
famous preacher. Depend upon it 1 was
there. Working on a sixth rate daily at slim
salary, talk with Beecher that would sell
readily for $50, or even 500, was not to be
sneeZed at.
Well, went and met the great man. and
together we boarded the train for Dover As
soon as we started, Mr. Beecher said: Now,
sir, if you are ready" 1 thought be meant
me to fire away with a question But he
stopped me right Off "You write short
hand!" "Yes." said l. "An right; then
please put this question: and Mr.. Beecher
proceeded, exactly as Gen. Butler does, to
put his own questions and answer them, until
he had reeled off two columns and a half of
The New York Herald, to which great paper
l sent the interview. 1 remember the haring
headline was "Beecher on Hell" but remem-
Der with still more joy the two handsome
figures in the left hand corner of The Her
AIDS check-James W. Clarke in The
Writer